Thursday, January 2, 2014

DNA and Ancestral Affinities: Is it in the Genes?


Have you ever felt a strong affinity for a culture or nation, and then discovered a possible genetic link?  One of my DNA cousins, Maurice of Geechee Moe's Ancestry, wrote in a recent post about his long time love of all things Jamaican and his delight at discovering a Jamaican cousin. It made me think about my own experiences of ancestral affinities.

When I was a kid, I fell in love with baseball.  My hometown team had several future Hall of Famers: Willie Mays and Willie McCovey. Now I always liked these two, but I was especially drawn to the many Latin players on the San Francisco Giants.  The Alou brothers, Felipe (who would later manage the team), Matty, and Jose, from the Dominican Republic.  Orlando Cepeda, or the Baby Bull, from Puerto Rico.  And my all-time favorite, the Dominican Dandy, Juan Marichal.  
From my DNATribes Admixture Analysis
I felt a kinship with these players because, very simply, they looked like me. And even as a young kid who knew nothing about racial admixtures,  I sensed that we probably shared a similar mix of bloodlines, African, European and a bit of Native American. 
Sure enough, a DNATribes analysis of my admixture shows that the country where I would likely find the most genetic matches is the Dominican Republic.  So perhaps my affinity was in my genes!  


As a young teen, I discovered the work of Chaim Potok, who wrote The Chosen and The Promise about  two young men growing up within the confines of  a very conservative branch of Judaism.  I didn't know why I was so powerfully drawn to these stories, or the  similar books I read, but I was not surprised to learn that  I have Jewish heritage.  My maternal grandfather's paternal grandparents were Jews whose lineage goes back to Lithuania.  My great great grandfather Zorach Hirshson had a brother who became a Rabbi, while he was the first to leave to come to America.  I wonder if Zorach's experiences could have been somewhat similar to those of the men I read about; did he leave to break away from a conservative branch of Judaism?  His older children, the ones born in Latvia, remained observant, but my great grandfather, William Hirshson, married outside the faith, and his son, my grandfather Louis, never mentioned his Jewish heritage.

I have had three other experiences that demonstrated not so much cultural affinities, but what I would call deep ancestral memories.  The first occurred when I attended a PowWow while working in Michigan.  When I heard the drumming, I had an immediate experience of remembrance. I knew the sounds, the rhythms, and felt I could have joined the dance.  Though my percentage of Native American ancestry is relatively low, at just 1.5%, it seems as if it still resonates within me.
From www.smithsonianmag.com
My second experience of this kind of deep remembering was standing on the Hill at Tara, in County Meath,  Ireland.  Kings were crowned there, but what I remembered were the spiritual rituals. Tara was sacred to the Druids, and that is how deep the memory was.  According to ancestry.com, I am 22% Irish, and I never felt it more than that day.  


My third experience of a deep ancestral memory was watching a performance of Alonzo King's

Lines ballet, The People of the Forest, with Nzamba Lela, a group of dancers and musicians  from the Aka or BaAka (also known as BiAka) people of the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  Again, as with the drums at the Pow Wow, I recognized the rhythms and the moves as they danced.  And I also immediately understood some of the origins of my own short stature.  The BaAka are a nomadic pygmy group (
see this site for more information). According to one of the admixture tools on gedmatch.com (Africa9),  I have about 5% Biaka ancestry.

What experiences of ancestral affinities or deep remembering have you had, if any, and do you believe that they could be because of genetic influences?   



10 comments:

  1. I greatly appreciate the shout out Cousin. This post is great and rings true for so many of us. I can remember being in Beaufort, South Carolina (the home of my Gullah/Geechee ancestors) and sitting outside in the hot sub-tropical region, and as the wind whistled I could hear the voices of my ancestors calling to me (next blog, shouting you out) and giving me the feeling of being back home, where I belonged. That place will forever be a sacred one to me. I'm loving this post cousin. We could talk about this for days! Lol!

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    1. Cousin Maurice, I am glad you like the post since your piece on discovering your Jamaican cousin inspired it. Isn't it amazing how deeply we can feel at home in certain places, and settings? Glad you have had that kind of experience as well, and look forward to reading about it in your blog!

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  2. Another great post. Growing up, I had always had an affinity towards Cuba and Brazil. I may have had some Boricua genes, but in my heart, I felt Cuban. It was a couple of years ago that I learned that my maternal great-grandfather, who was born in Ponce, PR, was actually born to a Cuban woman and her common-in-law Eastern European Jewish husband, Unfortunately, my 2nd great-grandmother died in childbirth and her name as been lost. One day, I hope to find it. But, for now, I am content on seeing DNA Matches in my Ancestry Finder file who have 4 grandparents from Cuba and knowing that one of my Countries of Origin is Cuba. I know she is still with me. Likewise, I felt the same towards Brazil. Lo and behold, my family is related to not only, the Florentino family from Sao Paolo from the Primos FB group, but to 3 other Brazilians from Sao Paolo. I still haven't found the connection, but, I know it is there,

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    1. Yes, cousin Teresa, that's exactly the kind of experience I had in mind, where one is deeply drawn to a culture or country without knowing why and only later discoverd the genetic link. I hope you are able to find the name of your Cuban 2x great grandmother.

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  3. I absolutely love how you tied in your DNA results to your ancestral affinities and deep remembering. You put into words what I have always felt but never thought about. Now I am wondering what was due to my genetics. Through your post I was able to recall a few things about myself that now have me wonder if it is because of my genetic link. I always felt a deep connection to water, the outdoors, photography (I love looking at pictures, especially scenic ones), music, helping and traveling. Now thanks to your fantastic group I am on a quest to figure out why.

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  4. I was at the World series of 1972 against the Oakland A's and Cincinnati Reds...I can remember hearing the crowd yelling "Alou" The brother Matty was playing for the A's at this time. We might find our common ancestor was in the DR.
    Stephani Juleeana Miller

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  5. There's a book "Of Water & the Spirit" by Malidoma SOME your reverence to "deep remembering" reminded me of. Malidoma's from Burkina Faso & wrote about how in his language there is no WORD for IMAGINATION because they have been taught we are not IMAGINING anything -- we are RECALLING it. We are remembering. Many years ago, I experienced an affinity to understand the spiritual practice of the Yoruba people & followed the spirit nudge (much to my family's dismay). Just yesterday I was talking to my teen about the gift of understanding your ORI (head). Who would have known 23 years later, DNA would confirm I'm 63% West African?! Yes, our Spirits draw us to what it remembers. We just have to listen & follow.

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  6. Love this! I've had those affinity's as well. I'll have to see why I like Morocco so much? Enjoyed this so much. I'm sure with my love for Primitive HomeGoods come from being 51% European.

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  7. Dawn...your story makes me go hmmmm about whether or not a had a strong affinity for a nation or culture...I will have to get back to you on that. :-) GREAT STORY.

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  8. This is the second time in minutes that I am having a conversation on what I have always called Genetic Memories....Yes my ancestors are tickling my toes.

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